Classic kill

Ex-local filmmaker screens his latest slasher film

Ted Geoghegan talks about a classic slasher film like Julia Child
talks about the butter in French onion soup—it's something to
savor without guilt. For the former Missoula-based filmmaker who
currently lives in New York City, the common elements of a slasher film
don't constitute formulaic laziness, but rather define a genre in the
most delicious way possible. Don't think of Final Destination, he says.
Think of the 1976 horror fest Black Christmas or John Carpenter's 1978
Halloween or, more recently, Hatchet and Wrong Turn 2.

"It's the same reason the Saw movies are doing so well," Geoghegan
explains. "They don't change the formula. They follow a distinct
pattern. There are so many slasher movies that are coming out these
days that try to change the formula and it doesn't feel like the films
I grew up watching."

In Missoula, Geoghegan is best known for his 2004 film, Ghouls Gone
Wild, a campy rock 'n' roll horror about former dirty rock group the
International Playboys. The band ends up in Garnet Ghost Town and is
seduced, killed and resurrected as the un-dead by a gaggle of ghoul
girls (full disclosure: I starred as one of the girls).

Geoghegan's latest effort, Sweatshop, follows a more classic slasher
storyline: In their quest to party, a handful of teenagers end up
face-to-face with a monstrous killer who picks them off one at a time.
In Geoghegan's spin of the standard setup, the teenagers are from the
electronica subculture and their attempt to throw a rave at an old
warehouse turns grizzly when they happen upon a giant killer, covered
in rags and animal pelts and referred to as "The Beast."

Just watching the trailer shows how far Geoghegan has come since
Ghouls Gone Wild. The 30-year-old film buff has been making horror and
slasher films for almost a decade, and the experience he's reaped from
doing at least one film project per year as either director, writer,
associate producer or producer, shows in Sweatshop's glossy, more
professional production. Every year, he says, he's ratcheted up his
budgets. And his move to New York City two-and-a-half years ago
connected him with more professional actors and filmmakers.

"Although I love Ghouls Gone Wild with all my heart, it was an
amateur film made by a bunch of amateurs, and I say that in the most
loving way possible," he says. "I had no idea how to direct, I had no
idea how to produce...Sweatshop is definitely the culmination of
experience."

Sweatshop was made without studio backing, financed with personal
funds from the crew and a few other private backers. Geoghegan joined
forces with director Stacy Davidson, who had just finished a film
called Domain of the Damned, and the two filmed Sweatshop on location
in Texas in 2007.

"Stacy and I both grew up watching slasher movies," says Geoghegan.
"We decided from day one that Sweatshop was going to be like our love
letter to '80s slasher movies. We're very honest in that we didn't try
to break new ground for this film. We wanted to make a film that felt
like the movies we grew up watching."

The filmmakers used Houston's Meridian nightclub and industrial
warehouses and steel mills around the city as their backdrop. And
because Davidson was already entrenched in the raver scene there, they
were able to find actors who could play the roles with
authenticity.

"I drew a lot of inspiration from an '80s movie called Return of the
Living Dead about a bunch of punk rockers who have to fight zombies,"
Geoghegan says. "We thought in terms of the look and feel that was kind
of what we were going for, except instead of everyone looking like a
punk rocker they all look like they shop at Hot Topic."

Geoghegan says the fun of making Sweatshop was that the
protagonists, not just "The Beast," all wear elaborate costumes because
of the raver subculture. One actor sports a liberty spike mohawk, which
Geoghegan and Davidson had to make sure didn't wilt from getting too
sweaty or wet or bloody throughout the filming. Other actors have
piercings, multi-colored hair and gothic make-up. Geoghegan says he and
Davidson wanted it to appeal audiences who both related to the
subculture and to those who find it annoying.

"It appeals to people who want to watch raver kids get killed in a
slasher movie," says Geoghegan, laughing.

Slasher films often get a bad rap because, when it comes down to it,
they're grossly violent—and especially harsh toward women.
Geoghegan agrees, but one of his favorite parts of the slasher formula,
he says, is "the final girl" aspect.

"She's always the one character defined almost from the moment the
movie starts as the virginal, maybe not-so-heroic character who is
going to defeat the villain," he says. "A lot of the violence is
perpetrated to women by men, but the majority of these films also end
with a woman taking care of the male killer and eventually saving the
day."

Sweatshop has a final girl, Geoghegan discloses, but in his film
she's tough to pick out right away. "We introduce eight characters," he
says, "[but you] can't tell who she is, which makes it fun."

Geoghegan shows the film's first screening in Missoula on Monday,
Sept. 7, before another premiere in New York. He says the final cut
contains all the elements of a classic thrasher—violence,
sexiness and camp—and that he's not looking to entertain lunatics
as much as satisfy the most ardent horror fans.

"Ultimately, it's a rather nihilistic little genre," he says. "But
slasher films really defined a whole generation of filmgoers...I'm so
tired of horror movies these days where the purpose is to really
depress you and make you sick to your stomach. Sweatshop is scary, but
it's still, at its root, just a fun movie."